“Snoop,” Not Hack, Hits The Mayo Clinic

Two putative class actions have been filed against the Mayo Clinic, following its announcement in October that a former employee had accessed the health records of 1600 patients, The compromised data did not include social security or bank account numbers, but it did include clinical notes and medical records, and the plaintiffs allege the former employee was able to look at images of their private parts. There has been an uptick in cases involving unauthorized access, many of them involving “internal employees snooping into medical records,” according to the plaintiff attorney. His client, in addition to alleging violation of the Minnesota Health Records Act, is pleading common law invasion of privacy and negligent infliction of emotional distress.